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ROME, Italy ‒ INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble and Italy’s Minister of Interior, Annamaria Cancellieri, have met to discuss international law enforcement cooperation ahead of a meeting of some 100 interior and justice ministers which Italy will be hosting in Rome on 5 November as part of INTERPOL’s 81st General Assembly (5-8 November 2012).

The Ministerial meeting on Challenges for Police Facing Contemporary Criminal Violence which INTERPOL is assembling will bring together ministers responsible for policing matters from its 190 member countries to identify strategies to effectively prevent and respond to the changing modes of contemporary criminal violence.

At his Wednesday meeting with Minister Cancellieri, Secretary General Noble highlighted Italy’s ‘strong leadership’ in international law enforcement cooperation, recalling for example how in October 2011 INTERPOL signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Italy’s Ministry of the Interior to work together to combat corruption in sport, making Italy the first country to officially endorse the INTERPOL-FIFA initiative targeting match-fixing as well as illegal and irregular betting around the world.

The Head of INTERPOL also cited how on 30 March of this year, INTERPOL contributed to the arrest of one of Italy’s most wanted criminals, Vito Roberto Palazzolo, who had been sentenced in Palermo to nine years in prison for external collusion with the Mafia. Palazzolo, who was the subject of an INTERPOL internationally-wanted persons Red Notice, was arrested in Bangkok by Thai authorities with the support of INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigation Support unit and Italy’s State Police.

With the Digest of Organized Crime Cases project launched in 2010 under the leadership of Italy, Colombia and of the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), with the support of INTERPOL, Mr Noble said the Digest provided an important ‘toolbox’ to assist countries in implementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, by providing them with key best practices in investigative and prosecutorial techniques, as well as in law enforcement cooperation.

Prior to his meeting with Minister Cancellieri, Mr Noble held a press briefing on a range of security issues with Prefect Antonio Manganelli, Chief of the Italian Police and Director General of Public Security of Italy, at the Foreign Press Association in Rome.